Stepladder supporting running board bracket



May 22, 1934. BRENGEL 1,959,611

STEPLADDER SUPPORTING RUNNING BOARD BRACKET Filed May 31, 1953 ATTORNEY Patented May 22, 1934- N ET .1

STATES STEPLADDER SUPPORTING RUNNING BOARD BRACKET Andrew A. Brengel, Union City, N. J.

Application May 31, 1933, Serial No. 673,687

2 Claims.

This invention relates to bracket constructions, and has particular reference to brackets for carrying an article on an automobile.

One object of the invention is to provide a device of the character described having improved means such as one or more brackets of novel construction for supporting a ladder on an automobile running board.

Another object of the invention is to furnish a device of the nature set forth having improved means whereby a ladder having graded steps can be carried at different angles on an automobile running board to accommodate the length of the ladder and to partially overlie a mudguard.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device of the type mentioned which can be rapidly and conveniently utilized and which will safely carry a ladder, and which device is ,,simple in construction, inexpensive to manufacture, rugged, reliable and eiiicient in use.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent as the specification proceeds.

With the aforesaid objects in view, the inven- ,tion consists in the novel combinations and ar- "rangements of parts hereinafter described in their preferred embodiments, pointed out in the subjoined claims, and illustrated on the annexed drawing, wherein like parts are designated by the same reference characters throughout the several views,

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of an embodiment of the invention, and showing a typical application thereof.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlarged view in side elevation thereof with the parts to be engaged shown in dot-dash lines.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a device with parts in section anda portion of a ladder in dot-dash lines.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 2 with parts removed, and a portion of the running board shown in dot-dash lines.

The advantages of the invention as here outlined are best realized when all of its features and instrumentalities are combined in one and the same structure, but, useful devices may be produced embodying less than the whole.

It will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains, that the same may be incorporated in several different constructions. The accompanying drawing, therefore, is submitted merely as showing the pre- -ferred exemplification of the invention.

In certain trades, as for example, in that relating to house painting, a ladder is a necessity, and generally a step ladder is found to sufiice for most practical purposes. The step ladder is usually carried on the running board of an automobile, and is retained thereon in any makeshift manner, as by being tied with ropes to the handles of the doors of the automobile. This manner of mounting the ladder is not only inconvenient and insecure, but will result in marring the automobile body and mudguards, since the standard ladder is usually longer than the running board and hence must slope over one of the mudguards. Moreover, the capacity of the running board for carrying other articles is diminished. By my invention the step ladder is reliably and neatly carried, and may even serve as a guard for retaining other articles on the running board, and hence may be regarded as a frame portion of the device, for retaining articles of different sizes.

Referring in detail to the drawing, 10 denotes a device embodying the invention. The same is particularly adapted to be secured to the running board 11 of an automobile 12 which may have the respective front and rear mudguards 13 and 14 for the wheels of the automobile. 15 may denote a conventional step ladder having legs or stiles 16 tapering toward each other so that the upper end or platform 1'7 of the ladder is smaller than the lower end' 18 thereof. Interconnecting the legs 16 are a plurality of wooden steps 19 which afford adequate supporting treads that lie at an angle or according to a suitable grade so as to be horizontal when the ladder is in use. The step ladder may include the conven- 9(5 tional pivotal rear support of which a central longitudinal reenforcement 15a and cross bar reenforcement 152) are seen in the drawing. It will be noted that one end of the ladder rests on the running board, and extends along a side of the automobile body in spaced relation thereto and the other end rests on the front mudguard. A plurality of the devices 10 may be used for supporting the ladder at the opposite end portions thereof, and the said devices being exact duplicates of each other.

The device 10 includes a bar or arm 20 made of flat strip metal. Connected to the lower end of the arm is a mounting device such as a running board engaging means that may be in the nature of a clamp 21. Connected to the upper end of the arm is a ladder engaging means such as a clamp 22 adapted to engage a step of the ladder at a front portion thereof so as to clear any metallic rod reenforcement under the step clamp 22 is angularly movable.

and which interconnects the legs 16 of the ladder. The clamps may be disposed on one side of the bar 20 and are arranged to open in the same general direction laterally of the arm 20 and toward the automobile body. The clamps may include U shaped members 23, 24 respectively, and each may have a movable jaw 25 carried by a power applying screw 26.

The members 23 may have a back 2'7 and a pair of spaced jaws 28, 29. The back 27 may lie along the arm 20 and may be fixedly secured thereto as by rivets 30 extending through the arm and the back. The jaws 28, 29 may lie at right angles to said arm 20, and the arm 28 may be longer than the arm 29 so as to overlie the running board to a substantial degree for reliable clamping engagement. The screw 26 may be threaded in the jaw 29 so as to movably extend therethrough and may have at its outer end a bent handle portion 31 for turning the screw. The plate 25 may be swiveled on the inner endof the screw in a suitable manner, preferably as hereinafter more particularly described, for bearing against the under side of the running board. In this manner the vertical arm 20 may be removably rigidly secured to the running board. with the inner fiat face 32 of said arm parallel to the longitudinal edge 33 of the runningv board.

The member 24 of the ladder engaging. clamp 22. may have a back 34 lying in contact with the inner face 32' of the arm 20 and pivotally connected thereto as by a rivet or headed pin 35. The latter affords a horizontal pivotal axis at right angles to the arm 20, about which axis the The. member 24 may have side portions or fixed spaced jaws 36, 3'? parallel to each other and being at an acute angle to the pivotal axis. The jaws 36, 3'] lie on opposite sides of the pivot 35 and the jaw 37 has the screw 26 threaded at right angles therethrough so as to extend on opposite sides of said jaw, with the outer handle endof the screw projecting away from the automobile body for convenient grasping thereof. The inner end of the screw may have an undercut or shoulder portion- 38 for receiving and seating the plate 25* which may have a recess 39 for the head40 ofthe screw which is peened over in the recess to secure the plate in a swiveledmanner.. be formed of sheet metal and may have its inner face 41 plane so as to uniformly seat against a step of the ladder and avoid cutting into and marring the same. The jaw 36 may be longer than the jaw 37 so as to properly coact with the movable jaw 25.

The manner of using the invention will now be described. The brackets 20 are placed at suitable points on the running board to correspond with the desired steps of the ladder, and the clamps 21 are applied and tightened on. the running board. The arms 20 now extend vertically upward and lie in a plane at the outer edge of the running board. The clamps 22 may be turned into the approximate proper angular relation, and difierent angular steps of the ladder may be received and secured therein with the jaws corresponding to the angle of the steps and the clamps 22 may be turned about their hori- The plate 25' mayzontal axes to correspond to the angle of the ladder. While various portions of the ladder steps may be secured in the clamps 22, desirably the central portions of the steps are so engaged to avoid possible lateral swinging motion of the ladder, the parts of the ladder above and below the clamps 22 balancing each other.

It will be appreciated that various changes and modifications may be made in the device as shown in the drawing, and that the same is submitted in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the following claims.

I' claim:

1; A- device for supporting over the running board and fender of an automobile a step ladder having the steps thereof graded to a pitch to provide treads disposedalong horizontal planes in the normal use of the ladder and having stile interconnecting rods under the steps, said device constituting a bracket having a lower clamp for engaging an edge portion of the running board and an upper clamp for engaging a step of the ladder centrally between the stiles thereof for balancingly supporting the ladder in an upright plane, the bracket including a single bar extending directly upward from the lower clamp, and. the upper clamp being mounted on said. bar for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis, both of said clamps being wholly at one side of said bar, said upper clamp having a pair of. jaws extending at an angle to the pivotal axis of the clamp inconformi'ty with the pitch of the ladder step, the jaw overlying the tread of the ladder step being shorter than the jaw on the underside of the ladder step, whereby the ladder is held without impinging the body of the automobile,v

and the stile rod under a ladder step cleared by the adjacent jaw of the clamp.

2; A device for supporting over the running board and fender of an automobile a step ladder having the steps thereof graded to a pitch to provide treads disposed along horizontal planes in the normal use of the ladder, said device consisting of a bracket including a single straight upright flat bar adapted to fiatwise contact an edge of the running board, said bracket having at the lower end of said bar a clamp for releasably engaging, the running board, and at the upper end of said bar a clamp for releasably engaging a step of the ladder centrally between the stiles thereof each of said clamps including a U-shaped clamp member, and both clamps being disposed at one side of said bar with the backs of both clamp members against the flat side of said bar, the upper clamp being. mounted on saidbar for pivotal movement about a horizontal. axis at right angles to said bar, said upper clamp having the clamp member thereof providing parallel jaws extending away from the bar at an acute angle to said axis and according to the pitch of said ladder step, whereby the upper clamp affords a control for maintaining the ladder parallel to the side of the automobile at difierent angles of the ladder over the running board and fender.

ANDREW A.v BRENGEL. 

